If the Minnesota Vikings end up withJosh McDaniels as offensive coordinator, they’ll get a ‘players’ coach,’ Eric Decker said Saturday.

On Friday, new Vikings coach Leslie Frazier interviewed McDaniels, fired as head coach of the Denver Broncos after a 4-12 season. Decker, the record-setting former Gophers wide receiver, was a rookie for the Broncos this season.

“(McDaniels) is a great guy, and I learned a lot from him,” Decker said from Denver. “He’s a very smart offensive mind and he gets a lot out of players. And he’s young (34), so he’s very energetic and enthusiastic.

“He’ll get on you when he needs to, but he’ll also reward you — he’s got that balance. I thought he did a good job with us.”

If McDaniels were hired, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see the Vikings try to acquire Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton.

“(Orton) is very smart, makes good decisions and is a leader,” said Decker, who caught his first NFL touchdown pass from backup QB Tim Tebow in the final game against San Diego. “(Orton) started all but the last three games and was leading the NFL in stats almost halfway through the year. He throws well and didn’t have many interceptions this year.”

Decker, 23, played in 14 games for the Broncos. The surgically repaired left foot that ended his Gophers career is pretty much healed, he said, but still tender after the long season.

There isn’t any chance — thank goodness — of Brett Favre playing for the Vikings again. But it wouldn’t be surprising if he were to end up somewhere next season, maybe the Buffalo Bills or the Washington Redskins. Either could get in the spotlight with Favre while developing a young QB.

Despite the lawsuits, Favre, 41, is still a cash cow for the NFL.

Also, it’s a good bet that the egocentric future hall of famer doesn’t want Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning to break his NFL records, and every year Favre plays is another year that Manning has to play if he’s going to catch and surpass him.

The Vikings’ release of quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers, who coached the Redskins’ Donovan McNabb at Syracuse, would seem to dismiss the possibility of McNabb coming to Minnesota.

That was Litchfield High School star John Carlson catching two touchdown passes and recovering a big onside kick for Seattle on Saturday in the Seahawk’s 41-36 upset over defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans.

Although he’s only 6 feet 8, Gophers basketball junior Trevor Mbakwe leads the Big Ten in rebounding this season with an average of 10.3 per game.

Former Gophers slugger Jack Hannahan received a telephone call the other day from the equipment people for the Cleveland Indians, asking what number he wants to wear in spring training next month. Hannahan will wear jersey No. 9, the same number he had playing for Cretin-Derham Hall and Minnesota.

Minnesota’s all-time prep basketball scorer, Tayler Hill from Minneapolis South, is averaging 12.6 points — third best on the women’s basketball team — as a sophomore at Ohio State.

St. Thomas Academy’s Zach Schroeder, brother of ex-Gophers star and former Vancouver Canucks top draft pick Jordan Schroeder, has committed to RPI, becoming the ninth Cadet in the past five years to end up with a Division I hockey tender under coaches Tommy and Greg Vannelli.

Another St. Thomas Academy senior, A.J. Reid, son of former Gophers running back Alan Reid, is getting hockey attention from Princeton. Teammate Taylor Fleming is hearing from Yale, among other schools.

Don’t be surprised if the Minnesota Twins organize a trip for fans to Cooperstown, N.Y., to attend the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony of Bert Blyleven on July 24.

Each of the former Twins in the Hall of Fame — Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett — have statues outside Target Field, and although a sculpture of Blyleven won’t be constructed this year, look for it in coming years.

The NFL team most likely to move to Los Angeles is the San Diego Chargers, not the Vikings, whom the league wants to remain in Minnesota. Oakland is second in line for Los Angeles.

The Twins will provide a giant get-well card to Killebrew for fans to sign Jan. 28-30 at TwinsFest at the National Sports Center in Blaine. Fans can send letters and best-wishes notes to Killebrew, who is receiving treatment for esophageal cancer, at twinsbaseball.com that will be forwarded to Harmon.

It’s a first granddaughter, Olivia Joy, for former Twins pitcher Jack Morris, 55. She’s the daughter of Austin and Laura Morris. An astute analyst, Jack will work 25 Twins games on radio next season.

Among Twins who will participate in the club’s annual winter goodwill tour to more than 70 cities throughout the Upper Midwest are Matt Capps, Ben Revere, Danny Valencia, Denard Span and Kyle Gibson.

Joe Mauer will appear in Burnsville and Northfield on Jan. 26.

Cloquet, Minn., native Jamie Langenbrunner, 35, traded by the New Jersey Devils to the Dallas Stars, is expected to be in the lineup today when the Wild play host to Dallas at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Xcel Energy Center would welcome a Timberwolves move to St. Paul if they aren’t happy with their arrangement at Target Center in Minneapolis.

The Twins say they don’t know whether free-agent DH Jim Thome, 40, will accept their offer, but the fact that he still hasn’t signed elsewhere seems to indicate he’ll be back in Minnesota to pursue career home run No. 600. He has 589 homers.

New U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner‘s regular dining stop when he’s in the Twin Cities is Mancini’s Char House.

There’s little doubt that even though the Timberwolves’ Kevin Love, who played at UCLA, won’t be voted a starter for next month’s NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, he’ll be chosen as a reserve.

Former Johnson High School and St. Paul Vulcans hockey star Craig Hanmer, who went on to play in the Philadelphia Flyers’ system, died at age 54 of pancreatic cancer the other day at his home in Wyoming, Minn.

Retired University of St. Thomas baseball coach Dennis Denning is recovering well from major back surgery.

Basketball coach Tubby Smith’s Southeastern Conference record between 1997 and 2007 at Kentucky was 120 wins, 40 losses. With the Gophers, his Big Ten record is 27-30.

The Diamond Awards baseball banquet on Jan. 27 at Target Field is a 525-ticket sellout.

Former Cretin-Derham and Wisconsin defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been promoted to the New York Rangers.

Maplewood’s Jim O’Brien made his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators the other day against Columbus. O’Brien’s brother Pete is a 6-2, 175-pound sophomore defenseman for North St. Paul High School.

Minnesota Lynx player Candice Wiggins, a recent Stanford graduate with a 3.8 grade-point average in communications, met with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a fellow Stanford grad, the other day to chat about business opportunities.

The San Jacinto men’s basketball team (14-0), coached by UMD grad Scott Gernander, is ranked No. 2 among junior colleges in the country. Among players is Moses Sundufu of Hopkins, averaging 4.9 points a game.

Gophers senior safety Kim Royston is pursuing a sixth year of eligibility, and expects to hear back from the NCAA about his petition this month.

St. Paul’s Ken Mauer Jr. will work Tuesday night’s Timberwolves-San Antonio Spurs game at Target Center.

Minneapolis’ Columbia Golf Club teaching pro Jeff Sorenson, 32, ended up as the top money winner ($7,018.33) while averaging 70.75 during 12 rounds at the recent PGA Tournament Series in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Among reasons Orono High School grad Jon Leuer (6-10, 230 pounds) of Wisconsin is expected to be a first-round NBA draft pick in June is his three-point shooting (46.8 percent).

Former Vikings star Ahmad Rashad will be an honorary captain representing alma mater Oregon at Monday’s national championship football game against Auburn in Glendale, Ariz.

DON’T PRINT THAT

The way the Vikings’ home schedule for next season looks now, the only sure sellouts would seem to be the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. That could mean a half-dozen TV blackouts.

Also to play at the Metrodome, besides Detroit, are Denver, Tampa Bay, Oakland, Arizona and New Orleans.

Since his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame last week, a Bert Blyleven autographed 1971 Topps trading card is on the market for $97.95.

Gophers junior basketball forward Trevor Mbakwe has completed the 100 hours of community service required for Florida to drop a 2009 felony assault case against him in Miami.

Look for hall of fame QB Joe Montana to make an autograph show appearance in Minneapolis in April.

Former Timberwolf Christian Laettner, who still is listed as having a Minnesota driver’s license with a Stillwater address, and fellow Duke alumnus Brian Davis have been ordered by a federal judge in Maryland to pay Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman nearly $3.8 million for allegedly failing to abide by the terms of a $3 million loan, McClatchy Newspapers reports. And a handful of lawsuits have been filed against Laettner and Davis for failing to pay more than $7 million to friends and associates.

It looks as though former Gopher Kris Humphries, who ranks No. 3 in the NBA in total rebound percentage, could be in line for a $20 million, four-year contract extension from the New Jersey Nets.

By the way, Timberwolves forward Kevin Love is No. 2 on the rebounds percentage (number of rebounds available and attained) list, as compiled by the New York Times.

Admirers of retired Stillwater High School football coach George Thole made an effort to rename the stadium after him but were rebuked.

Local ticket brokers say it costs $4,500 on the street just to get into Monday night’s BCS Auburn-Oregon national football championship game in Glendale, Ariz., and that there are hardly any seats available. They’re puzzled as to where all the tickets went.

OVERHEARD

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi, on why he has an empty bullet casing on his desk: “It’s the bullet I dodged,” he said, referring to criticism he gets as part of the job.

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